Risen 2 beta ?? Initial impressions (nothing real guys, Nda)

[Vault Dweller]

If I have to guess, the "beta stuff" was to sell more collector's editions of Risen 1, i.e. it's not a real beta, but a sales gimmick.

 

[Stauff]

If I have to guess, the "beta stuff" was to sell more collector's editions of Risen 1, i.e. it's not a real beta, but a sales gimmick.

IMHO beta stuff was not advertised at sale time of CE. Also I seriously doubt they are so eager to keep their promises, they could have spit on CE owners, they already got their money anyway... May be just may be they want to see whether "beta" causes an outburst of rage among fans. So far i haven't seen any activity from CE owners, either their numbers are too small or they are all lazy cunts..

 

[Metro]

Not like they're going to make noticeable changes to the game in two months.

 

[Outlander]

It's very depressing to witness almost every somewhat decent developer getting suck into the spiraling vortex of mediocrity that characterizes the gaming industry today. What are we left with? Larian? CDPR, maybe? And god forbid, Obsidian? What else is there?

 

[toro]

It's very depressing to witness almost every somewhat decent developer getting suck into the spiraling vortex of mediocrity that characterizes the gaming industry today. What are we left with? Larian? CDPR, maybe? And god forbid, Obsidian? What else is there?

Bethesda!?

 

[Saxon1974]

Can we ban anyone that uses the word majestic to describe a game?

 

[Outlander]

It's very depressing to witness almost every somewhat decent developer getting suck into the spiraling vortex of mediocrity that characterizes the gaming industry today. What are we left with? Larian? CDPR, maybe? And god forbid, Obsidian? What else is there?

Bethesda!?

Ha... well if you think about it, I believe that by now Bioware actually beat Bethesda in the 'how to royally screw up the RPG genre beyond recognition' department, and by a long shot. Really, BiowarEA makes Bethesda look like at least a serious ARPG developer, and that's just sad. So very sad.

 

[kaboosh]

It's very depressing to witness almost every somewhat decent developer getting suck into the spiraling vortex of mediocrity that characterizes the gaming industry today. What are we left with? Larian? CDPR, maybe? And god forbid, Obsidian? What else is there?

I feel your pain. There is nobody left but one tiny last hope: Egosoft and their X Rebirth.
In other news: I'm currently peeing all over my Risen 1 boxset and am thinking about sending nice brown bag off banthaa poodoo to PB.

 

[zerotol]

Can we ban anyone that uses the word majestic to describe a game?

using the word majestic or popamole often is a retard indicator, sadly it doesn't go any further

 

[toro]

Stauff: only one question, is Fred back? :D

 

[Shannow]

If I have to guess, the "beta stuff" was to sell more collector's editions of Risen 1, i.e. it's not a real beta, but a sales gimmick.

IMHO beta stuff was not advertised at sale time of CE. Also I seriously doubt they are so eager to keep their promises, they could have spit on CE owners, they already got their money anyway...

Well, getting perhaps a few thousand hardcore fans who didn't own a Risen1 CE before to buy a box in anticipation of R2 is extra cash. And generating an atmosphere of good will with your hardcore fans (CE owners are usually the biggest fans) is also not a bad idea. It also leads to (CE) purchases of R2 and word of mouth. Free advertising. And some testing of the waters.
Problem is devs/publishers usually perceive their games as good. That rarely means that they actually are...

So far it all sounds very disappointing, but I'll reserve judgement till I've actually played the game...

 

[Antagonist]

I will probably be crucified here for stating that but for all its faults I had far more fun playing a fully community-patched version of Gothic 3 (with redone balancing) than playing Risen. After Chapter 2 Risen became a chore and and finishing it required quite some willpower. Risen still features some of the trademark excellent world design of PB which rewards wandering off the beaten path but overall it completely failed to grab me, probably because the overall plot and many characters were simply uninteresting and the gameplay didn't make up for that. While they tried to hide it similar to Gothic 1 the gameworld felt strangely contracted compared to the vast expense that was Gothic 3. Oh well, I was already unsure if I would purchase Risen 2 after the disappointing predecessor but after reading the recent beta impressions it looks more and more like it will be added to the long list of games I ignore (Oblivion, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Skyrim, etc.).

 

[adure]

i think this "betatest" was just a test for PB how this Steam stuff works.
nothing to do with game mechanics or bugs.

 

[Oriental European]

I will probably be crucified here for stating that but for all its faults I had far more fun playing a fully community-patched version of Gothic 3 (with redone balancing) than playing Risen. After Chapter 2 Risen became a chore and and finishing it required quite some willpower. Risen still features some of the trademark excellent world design of PB which rewards wandering off the beaten path but overall it completely failed to grab me, probably because the overall plot and many characters were simply uninteresting and the gameplay didn't make up for that. While they tried to hide it similar to Gothic 1 the gameworld felt strangely contracted compared to the vast expense that was Gothic 3. Oh well, I was already unsure if I would purchase Risen 2 after the disappointing predecessor but after reading the recent beta impressions it looks more and more like it will be added to the long list of games I ignore (Oblivion, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Skyrim, etc.).

Same here, Gothic 3 has vast and beautiful fantasy world, while Risen's is very bleak and unmemorable.

 

[thesheeep]

Maybe they could hook up with CDProjeckt, or dtp, but apart from that, I don't see any alternatives.

Kalypso? Focus Home Interactive? dtp is fucking terrible, they drove Radon Labs into the ground.

Nope, that was (not only, of course) Radon themselves with bullshit projects like Future Wars.

 

[Brayko]

I'll reserve my hatred until I actually play the game and make it a good way through it. PB at least deserves a fair chance.

 

[Stabwound]

Shitty article from a shitty website by a shitty author: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/29/hands-on-risen-2-dark-waters/

The guy sounds like an idiot, complaining about "trial & error difficulty" of monsters and calling it "awkward", but at least that part sounds like it retains the PB open world, get slaughtered if you go to the wrong place thing.

He makes it sound like it's riddled with QTE which is a massive if you can't even avoid them.

 

[Trash]

Riddled? From the article he makes it sound like he encountered only once? Everything else sounds like Risen with some Aaahr thrown in. No preview or review will make me interested in this though since none will address the most important point. Will the game once again have a great start and then devolve into utter cookie cutter dungeon crawling like every other PB game?

If they for once make the endgame as interesting as the start I'll buy it instantly. Otherwise, meh. I'll wait for people here to play through it and see.

 

[Stabwound]

Well, from what I've read from other forums, there are QTE in various parts of the game world. One example was the alligator monsters, which will result in a QTE fight if they bite you. I really hope they're not thrown in as much as it sounds like, but it doesn't sound very promising from what I've read.

 

[Trash]

I couldn't care less. Yes, they are usually lame. Yes, they are overused. But as long as they only appear sometimes and don't turn the game into one of those interactive movie thingies they sure as hell won't stop me from playing a game and having fun.

A game starting out all open and turning into a lame dungeon crawl halfway through is something different though. PB has always seemingly run out of steam halfway through. I'd be surprised if it's different this time.

 

[Roguey]

Shitty article from a shitty website by a shitty author: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/29/hands-on-risen-2-dark-waters/

The guy sounds like an idiot, complaining about "trial & error difficulty" of monsters and calling it "awkward", but at least that part sounds like it retains the PB open world, get slaughtered if you go to the wrong place thing.

Trial and error is a legitimate complaint if true (it's possible he's just not paying enough attention, maybe not). There should be clear (but not necessarily literal) signposts for dangerous areas and monsters should have attacks that can be predicted.

 

[Twinkle]

I fully support PB and Deep Silver.

 

[Kraszu]

Shitty article from a shitty website by a shitty author: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/29/hands-on-risen-2-dark-waters/

The guy sounds like an idiot, complaining about "trial & error difficulty" of monsters and calling it "awkward", but at least that part sounds like it retains the PB open world, get slaughtered if you go to the wrong place thing.

Trial and error is a legitimate complaint if true (it's possible he's just not paying enough attention, maybe not). There should be clear (but not necessarily literal) signposts for dangerous areas and monsters should have attacks that can be predicted.

No, you can see a monster before it can see you vast majority of times anyway. If the distinction between less dangerous areas, and dangerous ones would be so obvious then some of the suspense would be lost. I had died only few times because I didn't know how strong the monster is. I don't see why that is a big deal for some.

 

[Roguey]

No, you can see a monster before it can see you vast majority of times anyway. If the distinction between less dangerous areas, and dangerous ones would be so obvious then some of the suspense would be lost. I had died only few times because I didn't know how strong the monster is. I don't see why that is a big deal for some.

All right you can see it, but how do you know if you can take it or not? If there's absolutely no way of knowing until you've been one-shotted, that's no good (because then knowing to stay away from a certain area requires meta-knowledge rather than in-game knowledge). Though I read in the other thread that a NPC warns you about the spider so Rossignol is in fact being a bad player here and he deserved his death.

 

[Twinkle]

Since Jaesun cares so much about fellow codexers supporting Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes I'll just say that Risen2 is a typical PB game, for better or worse. Will buy.